Take her instead
by turtlepearlove
Summary: When Harry and Hermione are captured by the inquisitorial squad, Malfoy takes a different decision that changes history as we know it. AU from 5th book onward. *Fem Draco* Written due to the appaling lack of female Draco stories!
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Stop the rain

**Rating**: T

**Warnings**:None

**Summary**: When Harry is captured by the inquisitorial squad, Malfoy makes a different decision and how it changes history as we know it.

STOP THE RAIN

"I am sure an unforgivable can be excused" Umbridge muttered to herself "considering the circumstances"

Hermione's grip of Harry's arms tightened painfully, he could even see Malfoy's eyes widen. In any other circumstance this would have surprised him, instead he gritted his teeth and waited for the pain to follow.

Umbridge raised her wand in preparation of the curse but there is another sudden curse fired.

In the chaos that continued Umbridge looked confused and Harry is surprised he can move again, Pansy took an abortive step towards Umbridge her eyes suspiciously looking at Goyle, when Harry's eyes met Malfoy's, she mouthed "run"

Before Umbridge realised he grabbed Hermione's hands and sprinted out of the room. He could hear Umbridge shouting, but he had a head start already.

"I know where we should go" Hermione said as she tightened her grip on Harry's hands and lead him towards the Forbidden Forest. It was a testimony to the fact that he unquestionably trusted her, as he allowed himself to be lead to the dark looming forest.

The fiasco in the forest took an hour, and when Harry finally stumbled out with Hermione he was surprised to see Malfoy leaning on a tree twirling her wand "So what adventures are we up to now?" she asked.

Malfoy looked well put together as always, not a hair out of place as she raised her perfectly arched eyebrows at Harry and Hermione's dishevelled appearance.

Harry gritted his teeth and tried not to curse her on the spot "Move Malfoy, I don't have the time"

Malfoy looked bored, but didn't move "do tell Potter"

It's Hermione who finally burst out "it's you-know-who, he has someone Harry loves"

Malfoy raised her eyebrows but stopped twirling her wand "are you sure?"

Harry wasn't surprised at the fact that Malfoy didn't seem to absorb the gravity of the situation. It was rather predictable on her part.

"Of course I am sure"

"How can you possibly be?"

Harry considered stunning her instead, but even Hermione is listening in "I had a vision" he gritted out yet again.

Malfoy laughed, high and tinkering

"Oh you are not joking"

"how are you sure Potter?"

"This is not the first time"

"How- are-you-sure" she enunciated slowly, like he couldn't quite grasp the concept "how are you sure it's not a trap?"

"Why do you care?" It was just like Malfoy, to get a rise out of him on the most trying of times. If the time wasted would get Sirius killed, Harry is sure he would end up killing Malfoy too.

"Make sure Potter" she said "instead of stupidly rushing head first into danger"

Hermione too looks thoughtful, and perhaps that is what causes Harry to change his mind.

The mirror, Harry's mind provides him and before he knows it he was tearing through the dormitories to reach the mirror.

"Sirius" he breathed out "padfoot"

It is the five longest seconds of his life, the way his heart feels like it is going to burst through his chest.

"Harry?"

He almost cried out of relief at the sight of his godfather's tired face looking back "Sirius I had a vision" the words are wrenched from his mouth, the story comes tumbling down in a garbled mess.

It was a tense six hours, Ginny and Neville look apprehensively and even Luna looks scared. Harry sits vacantly staring out the window waiting for some kind of news.

When he is finally summoned to McGonagall's office his hands are shaking, Hermione's fingers entwine slowly, she smiles tightly when he looks at her.

McGonagall looks morose "Sit down"

"There was an attack on the Ministry, You-know-who was there" Harry knows he is crushing Hermione's fingers "Bellatrix is dead, Sirius is in custody"

"What?" Harry jumps up "she is a death eater"

The rest of the room doesn't move, Harry looks imploringly at McGonagall, "what is going to happen"

It's an alarming stillness "everyone saw you-know-who" she says instead "It all burns down to how much the ministry is willing to admit"

Harry lets go of Hermione's hands.

The next morning is bleak and morose, The Daily prophet proclaims 'You-know-who's return', an alleged prophesy broken and Lucius Malfoy is arrested'

Everyone looks frightened and Harry is predictably the talk again, he wants to sink down and hide in his chair. But his mind wanders as well, when he looks across the great hall, Malfoy is noticeably absent. He searches again, only to be met with disdainful looks from Parkinson.

The toast taste dry in his mouth as he looks down at his paper again, he wonders if it is a good or a bad thing that Sirius alleged incarceration is not proclaimed. His fingers drum the wooden surface idly as Ginny makes her way towards him, she has a thin envelope "Dad says there is a good chance for trail"

Ron snatches the envelope away and Harry zones out the resulting bickering, he wonders briefly about Malfoy, wonders if she regrets the decision of helping Harry in the first place, of losing the one thing that she held closest instead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: Stop the rain

**Rating**: T

**Warnings**:None

**Summary**: When Harry is captured by the inquisitorial squad, Malfoy makes a different decision and how it changes history as we know it.

STOP THE RAIN

Harry's holidays in 4 Pivet Drive is really not that different from any of his previous holidays. Ron and Hermione's letters sound vague and boring and Harry's attempts at correspondence are met with stony silence.

Relief arrived much later in the form of Albus Dumbledore, when he picked Harry up from the Dursley's, a very 'off' trip to meet a man names Slughorn later, Harry is glad to be at 12 Grimmauld place.

Harry took a deep breath, trying to shake off the dizziness that accompanied side-long apparition before he was engulfed in fuzzy brown hair and flying limbs "Harry we missed you" she breathed out.

And Harry felt perfectly at home, with Hermione holding onto him suffocating tight as Ron and Ginny grinning at the background.

"We missed you too mate"

Harry grinned as he untangled himself from Hermione's arms, and was even more surprised to see a grinning Sirius leaning against the wall.

Harry is surprised to realise that Sirius hugs him back just as tightly, the 'i was worried' goes unsaid.

"What happened?" he asked instead.

"you are looking at a free man now Harry" The glimmer in Sirius's eye was unmistakable. That is the first time Harry looks around and realizes that Grimmauld place has received a face lift too. Though the overall gloominess is not completely removed, he is relieved to see that there is a definite change in the atmosphere. 's portrait being noticeable absent is the biggest change of them all.

He looked at his godfather in question, "of course the Ministry is not too keen on making the news too public, my entire 'unlawful incarceration' was only 5th page worthy news"

But Sirius looked better nevertheless, the haunted look in his eyes was almost gone, and Harry felt contentment curl up in his belly like a cup of hot chocolate on winter days.

The happiness was almost sharply cut off when he saw the figure on the stairways, for a moment that he was too surprised to move.

Harry, used to seeing Malfoy in uniform skirts and robes, was surprised to see her standing in pyjamas and an over sized tee shirt. Her straight hair tied into a messy bun, the usual calm composure with which she regarded the world is almost gone.

She looks small and tired, when the look of surprise receded from her face, her lips thinned and she stormed back upstairs.

Sirirus looks disapproving as well but doesn't say a word, and a surprised Harry finds himself sitting on the floor with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"It's horrible Harry" Hermione bursts out, as if she can no longer hold it in.

Hermione who is the calmest of them all, looked tired and angry all of a sudden "She is such a bitch"

Ginny doesn't even mask her laughter, even Ron looks amused. Harry had no doubt who they are talking about, grinned.

"Oh thank your stars Hermione, at least you are not living with Phlegm"

"Fleur" Ron answers Harry's lack of comprehension "Since Bill and her are engaged, she is at the burrow for the holidays"

"And I am living here" Hermione said, displeasure colouring her voice "since Sirius thought it would be better if Malfoy had company"

"Why is she here?"

Hermione looked guilty as she answered "well her dad's in Azkaban and her mom's gone to France for safety, Sirius is her closest relative"

Hermione grimaced at the thought "doesn't make her any less entitled" she said "she hardly comes down to help; she stays in her room all day long. Sirius and she have had at least a dozen screaming matches already asking her to stay out of the Black library"

Ginny rolled her eyes "It is Malfoy after all" she said "given the circumstances it is better that she stays locked up"

Harry resisted the urge to sigh, his hope for an uneventful holiday was crashed yet again, and the only bright side seemed to be that Hermione was equally stuck with the same problems.

Sirius, it seemed had a whole itinerary planned out for Harry's holidays. "We need to clean out this place" he reiterated.

Harry tried his best not to roll his eye, his godfather's enthusiasm was contagious. But by the end of the evening, with two nasty doxy bites, Harry wasn't too thrilled. He was surprised to see Malfoy on the dinning room.

She had her eyes closed, her head pressed against the book cover. For a second, Harry thought that Malfoy really did look beautiful.

Her mouth looked soft, kind even, when it was not curled into the perpetual smirk. Her lashes darkened by its thickness, strands of her hair framed her eyes. Harry had an inexplicable urge to brush back her hair, instead walked towards the shelves in search for biscuits.

Malfoy was suddenly jolted up, he could see her wipe the corner of her mouth discretely, Harry smirked. "what are you doing Potter?" she sounded agitated.

"Looking for biscuits"

"couldn't you do it a little more quietly?"

"Couldn't you rather nap in your room?"

Malfoy grimaced at that statement "As if I could sleep with all that banging around"

"We were cleaning" Harry said "which you could have helped instead of attempting to sleep in the middle of the morning"

Malfoy glared at him "don't you have that creepy house elf to clean this place up?"

"Evidently not" Harry decided on settling for tea and put the kettle to boil, he could feel Malfoy's eyes carefully tracking his moments across the kitchen.

"Are you making tea?" she asked finally, Harry didn't bother replying.

"Make me one too" she ordered, Harry resisted the urge to snap back "the magic words Malfoy"

"Now?", Harry stumped down the urge to grin didn't turn back "Please?"

Malfoy was looking straight ahead, a slight pink colouring her cheeks, Harry added another cup of water to the kettle.

She traced idle patterns around the wood of the table "Miss your home?" Harry asked uncomfortable with the silence.

"what do you think Potter?" she snapped back, Harry grimaced at the predictability and his own foolishness in attempting civility from Malfoy.

Harry finished his tea and rinsed his cups setting it back, Malfoy seemed to intently stare at the cup.

"I do" she replied softly, not elaborating further.

"You can help us you know" Harry said matter of factly "I reckon it's better than sulking in your room"

Harry didn't really expect anything out of the conversation, knowing Malfoy she would rather sulk than do something as common as housework, was surprised to see a rather grumpy looking Malfoy at breakfast.

"You said you needed help cleaning" she mumbled out as she joined a surprised looking Hermione and an amused Sirius.

Sirirus was the one to gleefully hand over Malfoy the doxy spray, "so when you see a doxy..."

"You mean there are doxys here?" she asked alarmed, her arms hastily sringing back from the spray, "Yup terrible doxy infestation and plenty of bogarts, especially in Regulas's old room"

Malfoy's eyes widened comically "But that's where I sleep"

Hermione was doing her best to hold back her sniggers, amusement was clear in Sirius's eyes, even Harry had to bite back his grin.

"ok that's enough" Hermione intervened "we still have rooms to clean"

Having almost missed the joke entirely, a confused looking Malfoy joined their trek upstairs.

Harry was surprised when Sirius handed over Malfoy a bandana too, tie it around your nose he advised.

They worked in an awkward sort of silence, after all dusting and cleaning didn't require all that much of a conversation. Yet Hermione stopped at least two doxys from attacking Malfoy and Malfoy didn't laugh at the time that a doxy had got stuck in Hermione's hair, all in all Harry was glad that she decided to join them.

A/N: Read and review


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